Think no more, lad | Think no more, lad; laugh, be jolly

by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936)

Think no more, lad; laugh, be jolly

Language: English

Our translations: FRE HEB

Think no more, lad; laugh, be jolly;
Why should men make haste to die?
Empty heads and tongues a-talking
Make the rough road easy walking,
And the feather pate of folly
Bears the falling sky.

Oh, 'tis jesting, dancing, drinking
Spins the heavy world around.
If young hearts were not so clever,
Oh, they would be young for ever;
Think no more; 'tis only thinking
Lays lads underground.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by Alfred Edward Housman (1859 - 1936), no title, appears in A Shropshire Lad, no. 49, first published 1896 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Robert F. Baksa (b. 1938), "Think no more, lad", published 1967 [ medium voice and piano ], from Housman Songs, no. 10 [sung text not yet checked]
by Joyce Barrell (b. 1917), "Think no more, lad" [ SSA chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
by George Sainton Kaye Butterworth (1885 - 1916), "Think no more, lad", published 1911 [ medium-high voice and piano ], from Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad, no. 4 [sung text checked 1 time]
by Alfred Redgrave Cripps (1882 - 1950), "Think no more, lad; laugh, be jolly", published <<1940 [ voice and piano ], from Nine "Shropshire Lad" Songs [sung text not yet checked]
by John Linton Gardner (1917 - 2011), "Think no more, lad", op. 226 no. 2 (1996) [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Three Poems from "A Shropshire Lad", no. 2 [sung text not yet checked]
by Charles Fonteyn Manney (1872 - 1951), "Disillusion", published 1914, from A Shropshire Lad [sung text not yet checked]
by Willy B. Manson , "Think no more, lad; laugh, be jolly", published 1920 [ voice and piano ], from Three Poems from "A Shropshire Lad" [sung text not yet checked]
by Hugh Priestley-Smith , "Think no more, lad; laugh, be jolly", published <<1943 [ voice and piano ], from From the West Country [sung text not yet checked]
by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "Think no more, lad", op. 138 (1947) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Arthur Somervell, Sir (1863 - 1937), "Think no more, lad", 1904, published 1904 [ voice and piano ], from A Shropshire Lad, no. 8 [sung text checked 1 time]
by John Ramsden Williamson (1929 - 2015), "Think no more, lad" [ baritone and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 12
Word count: 68